Chapter 34: World’s first Water Dragon

Sylph entered her cave. It was dim, the air humid and she had expected a large tub. What she got was an entire lake, big enough to fit ten dragons. The few lightglobes in the wall reflected like moons on the glassy, steaming surface. Her tail twitched in excitement as the door fell closed. They were right about the baths.

Sylph stepped into the shallow end and eased herself into the hot water. The gentle warmth enveloped her legs and a line of dirt and sand came off her scales and floated beside her like an oil slick.

A small waterfall to the side topped off the bath with a rhythmic, almost hypnotic pattering. No one to disturb her or tell her what to do for a few precious minutes. A bucket with several brushes, sponges, and soap, all neatly tucked into the cupboard below the fringed rope to call the servants was all she needed.

The water enveloped her sore muscles and the heat around her head dulled the minor hangover headache. She pushed herself deeper and started to float. A slight current pulled her weightless body towards the deeper end all on its own. She closed her eyes. Floating like this reminded her of a dream, the ones about flying. The thought riled her memories. She had expected to see Dalian in her dreams, but he had not appeared. Maybe they were too far away, or they did not care. She pushed the stray thoughts away. The correct answer would be the easiest one; Dalian could not find her. His ability’s sense should be odd as her own. Pinpointing her dream among everyone else over the entire distance seemed impossible from her limited experience. And to make matters worse, she spent the nights walking. He would not look for her dream during the day. Perhaps she should send them a letter, tell them how their lie did not work, and that she had found her mother.

She drew a deep breath and melted into the gentle flow of water. Those thoughts could wait a few minutes. She submerged her head and air bubbled from her nose and mouth and she gasped in surprise. Or she would have, if there was any air left to gasp with. She opened her eyes, twisting and turning, patting her torso. Her lungs did not move.

She grasped the center of water; it had settled in her chest on its own. Even touching it brought a strange sensation and consciousness about a lack of breath. Being unable to breathe should freak her out, but it had the opposite effect. Her body grew heavy but light, almost as if asleep, and she consciously relaxed every muscle from her very tail-tip down to her snout until no tension, twitching or nagging, remained. Only the gentle pressure all around her and the feeling of drifting weightlessly persisted. Maybe water was her element if the sky was not. No dragon could do what she could. She was the one and only water dragon.

She let herself be dragged until she bumped into a wall at the deep end. The water blurred her vision, but she made out the large drain at the very bottom. Nahana talked about two rivers beneath the palace, a river meant even more water to be part of. There was no grate to stop her, just a large hole and a dark tunnel beckoning her curiosity.

She dove with the current, grabbed hold of the sides and pressed herself into the passage. It was wider than expected, but she had to clamp her wings down to not scrape along every rock. Darkness robbed her sight, and she could only feel her way forward on the slick rock. Halfway into the drain, she realized the oddness of her way of thought. No one that needed to breathe would be foolish enough to crawl into a passage like this.

Only a few steps further, her pfod grabbed into open space and cool water. She pulled herself into the open. The current caught her immediately, and she gripped a rock for support as she surfaced. The drain was much shorter than expected. Her tail still felt the warmth of the bath.

The river cave was pitch black, but the cacophony of voices and noises had her focus on her ears. Echoes overlapped several times, water bubbled and steam hissed. The bath had been relaxing and quiet. This was not, and the water was rather cool. The stream itself was also not as deep as she had hoped. She debated going back, but a mechanical hissing and bubbling from downstream caught her attention. All other sounds came from upstream.

She followed the noise by releasing her grip and drifting a tad further until the current sped up and she lost her footing. Ramming her back legs into the ground, she stopped herself, dipped down a few feet further and her front legs caught the ground once more. Her heartbeat quickened for a second. The sudden depth made her expect a waterfall, but it was merely a small drop. On second thought, it should have been noisier otherwise.

A flash of light scurried over the ceiling, along with the shadow of a person. She slowly made her way further down the incline until she saw the faint gray outline of a rocky outcropping in the increasing light coming from further below. Propped up on a slippery rock, she watched. A few iron tanks sat in the water below, next to some sort of workshop filled with pipes and more tanks. The dim light made it difficult to see more than outlines.

“Done for today?” A Sol voice reflected from behind a wall, clearly in the workshop, but she could not see. He did not sound pleased.

“No, not quite, have to watch the heat.” The second voice was tiny, old, and human. She stretched her neck but failed to see much more than the edges of a desk. A human down in the river, working on what she presumed was the heating system, was an odd find. “The time you take extra will be cut from your sleep,” the Sol grunted, “Now do your job.”

The work environment sounded horrible down there. They hated humans. Nahana must keep him for the finicky bits of their intricate heating system. Perhaps he was even a slave. Sylph swallowed. She could hardly ask, “Oh hey, I noticed the human doing slave labor in your river.” Brandon got the visitor treatment, but this old man did not.

She had to go check on Brandon. Slipping back into the water, she retraced her steps back to the change in temperature to find the drain. She was about to submerge herself when Nahana’s voice echoed through the cave. “She is quite rough around the edges. Turning her into a useful heir will take time.”

Sylph should not eavesdrop, but she was too curious about what Nahana had to say about her when she was not in the room. “She has a problematic personality. Never stops to think about a decision.” Sylph pouted in the darkness. That was not true at all. She had a target and did everything to reach that goal.

“With Tanno dead, things are about to get rough, mistress,” somebody said. The voice was deep and rough, Sylph did not recognize it.

There was a drawn out, pleasured moan, and Sylph debated staying around any longer. “That’s the spot, right there between my wings,” Nahana said, “you are right. Sylph can’t interfere. I want her to be guarded at all times. She does nothing alone, understand me? Her poking her small snout where it doesn’t belong would be a problem. And yet, I am grateful that she is back. I will have a successor after a lot of work.”

This whole situation reminded her of what happened back home. Now Nahana wanted to hide things from her, too. She was unsure what she would do once she met her mother. Right now she was in a palace with a stranger, one that wished to turn her into her heir, apparently. She barely found the truth about what happened to her egg. If Dust was responsible for her theft, she should ask him once he got back.

And after getting those answers, perhaps leaving would be for the best. Her mother did not want her to interfere, and neither did Sylph. Taking part in some kind of big political something and becoming the heir to a mistress running a town was never part of her plan or goal. She had Farron as her apprentice, after all. This was not a place where Sylph belonged.

“Tell them to get in here when you leave,” Nahana commanded and for a few seconds there was no sound but the rushing of water and heavy steps splashing through it. Several steps, lighter and faster, entered Nahana’s bath. “Is it true what they say, mistress? That your daughter returned?” The unfamiliar voice was warm and genuine with added emotion, but unlike Nahana, it felt comfortable and natural.

“I have heard the same,” another voice, old and large. “That is indeed, tru-” Nahana’s answer was cut short in a gasp. “You are not wasting any time today, are you? Get my horns while you are at it. And you, Elina, Biscuit, go check on her. Perhaps she has come to her senses in that lonely bath of hers. Please knock, she is very private.”

“Not like you in that regard, mistress.” Quiet laughter and giggles echoed through the cave and Sylph wondered just how many dragons were in that bath with her mother. She dived back down and scrapped along the sides as quickly as she could and pulled herself back through the drain. The way was short, but she barely surfaced in time for the knock. Two dragons barged inside a second after, disregarding her wish for privacy like everyone else in this palace.

Sylph focused on the center of water to empty her lungs as she raised her head. She expected two large guards, but the dragons in the doorway were just a few years older than her, at most. One of them was an Aer dragoness with extremely dark blue, almost black scales. A friendly grin sat on her face and her wings fluttered a little as she spotted Sylph.

The other one was a male Sol with nearly the same sand colored scales as Dust but sprinkled with brown freckles all over his body. He had to be the one called Biscuit. His stout face looked looked down at her with a generous amount of worry and suspicion.

“Uhh,” was the first word the dragoness uttered. “Mistress Nahana forgot to mention your name, Nahana’s daughter.”

“Sylph.”

“That’s a very nice name. You look like your mother. She waited a long time for you to come back. Okay, Sylph, need anything? Soap, snacks, me, him, us?” Elina talked fast and a lot, while Biscuit did not even open his mouth.

“I am fine, thank you,” Sylph answered.

“Just checking,” Elina said, gave a little bow, and they both walked out backwards. The door fell closed, but their faint voices remained. “You think Nahana is gonna be happier now?”

“I think she’ll hear you if you talk so loud.”

“Nahana’s busy, trust me. But, oh, right. Sylph, use the pinkish bar of soap. It does wonders to your scales, makes them really shiny. Just be careful to not get any in your eyes, nose, ears, or any other place you’d hate to have a burning sensation. Scales only.” The door opened the tiniest amount. “Green soap for your face and everything else in general, red brush for horns.”

“Thank you,” Sylph answered but Elina was not finished and pushed her snout through the door. “Files are for claws only, red, blue, green, rough to fine in that order. I suggest not filing your horns yourself, hard to get them perfectly even on your own, if you are somebody that files their horns, not that it is bad, Nahana does not though, I do.”

“I see, thank you.” The small bucket had to be loaded to the brim.

“We also got perfume, I was told it works.”“It does,” Biscuit threw in from behind.

“There is also a small flask of oil, if you really want your scales to shine. Don’t confuse that with the bulbous flask of massage oil.”

“I think I’ll do just fine with what I have.”

Elina closed the door, but opened it again a second later. “Don’t worry about leaving a mess, we’ll clean and stow everything away later.” With those words she finally vanished.

Sylph grabbed the bucket of supplies from the front made a decision as she carried it towards the shallow water. A normal rough brush and the green bar of soap. She had no need for anything fancier. After a few minutes of scrubbing, Sylph left the bath, shook herself once and absorbed the rest of the water clinging to her scales.